The Way it is Now
by Cracka-Lacking
Summary: The war is over and the wizarding world rejoices. But Hermione's relationship with Ron is over before it really began and Harry doesn't even know if he has the capacity to love anymore. Can it really end that badly?H/Hr Rated M for a reason!


Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER! If I did, I wouldn't need to come up with ways to get Harry and Hermione together. BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN PLANNED FROM THE START! So there!

Rated: M+

Summary: The war is over and the Wizarding world rejoices. But Hermione's relationship with Ron is over before it really began and Harry doesn't even know if he has the capacity to love anymore. Can it really end that badly?

**THE WAY IT IS NOW**

By Cracka-Lacking

"I'm sorry Hermione, I can't tomorrow. Mum needs help with some house stuff." Ron said apologetically, not for the first time this month. Hermione nodded dumbly before throwing her bag back over her shoulder and apparating quickly back to her parent's old house. She sighed as she threw her bag down on the floor then sits on the couch with a thump.

It's quiet, too quiet for her taste. Her mum was usually in the kitchen by now, cooking up her latest non sugar, non fat, non taste creation, listening to Abba or Queen as she did so. Her dad usually in the study, humming to the same music as he reads the paper, he'd actually started reading the Quibbler after he had been introduced to Luna Lovegood. But that was all before, before she had to alter their memories and send them off to Australia. Harry had gone with her to retrieve them of course. Good old Harry who had lost some of his closest friends in the war, almost died himself and yet would still come with her as support when she needed someone. She understood, of course, why Ron couldn't do it. He had just lost a brother and was grieving for him, he needed the support of his family just like she needed the support of hers.

When they had arrived in Australia, they went straight to Sydney's Bondi Beach, she had set her parents up with a café there with help from the Order. The reunion hadn't been easy, Harry and Hermione waited until they were packing up for the night and confronted them, then while Harry kept them busy Hermione uttered the spell that would bring them back. Oh how much she had missed them. They cried in each other's arms for hours Harry and Hermione giving them an abbreviated recap of what had happened.

She was so glad to have her parents back, but in the end, they loved Australia. They loved their business and the people. So they decided to stay, and Hermione and Harry returned to England and to their lives.

Only, it wasn't entirely the same in the end. Harry never got back together with Ginny, though Harry never told her why she was secretly happy, she had never thought them right for each other in the first place. Ginny had always known him as the 'boy who lived' never as just Harry, the loving, shy, smart and brave Harry. So now he'd closed himself up. Living like a ghost in Grimmauld Place, hardly coming out for the constant reporters at his magical door. She suspected Ginny gave away the whereabouts of the secret house, in an act of revenge for her broken heart.

And herself? Well she tried to be there for Ron after she came back from Australia, she held him through his grief and regularly visited him at the Burrow. Months went by but they never seemed to progress anywhere, she didn't want to stay by herself in her parents place. It was so large and lonely without them there, so she had asked Ron if he would move into an apartment with her, and he had quickly agreed. But now, a month on and he'd still yet to look at a single house with her. And she'd almost given up on him even wanting to.

Sighing at her melancholy state she slowly levered herself up off the couch, grabbed a bottle of Firewhisky out of a kitchen cabinet and apparated into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

"Harry?" She called once she had put the bottle on the table and levitated two glasses from the cupboard. She was the only one who he let apparate into his house these days so he had to know it was her when the wards admitted her, but he hadn't come to greet her yet as he usually did.

"Harry are you here?" To her it seemed like a stupid question, he was always here these days. Leaving the bottle and glasses where they were she left the kitchen for the hallway and gasped. Harry was sitting on the stairs, a muggle Ipod in his ears as he chugged a bottle of water. Wearing no shirt, a pair of knee length black shorts and covered in a sheen of sweat, Hermione could barely think, let alone speak. While in her daze though, she didn't notice when Harry opened his eyes and spotted her staring.

"Oh, hey Hermione" He said, pulling the earphones out of his ears and smiling as he used his discarded shirt to wipe his face. "I didn't hear you apparate, come and have a look at this!" He said, smiling and beckoning her over, standing and moving out of her way as he did. Shaking herself from her daze of "Oh my, Harry is fit!" she smiled at him and walked closer, and what she saw had her gaping again. There, on the wall was the most amazing sight she had ever seen, a big blank patch of wall where the most annoying painting ever created used to reside.

"Merlin Harry! She's gone? How did you do it?" She asked, turning to him. He looked sheepish for a moment before replying.

"By complete accident actually, I stubbed my toe on the stairs in the hall and the curtain opened. She screamed her usual blood traitor garbage, but I was in a foul mood, I was angry and I was thinking about Sirius, Tonks and Remus, Teddy sitting at home with his grandmother, not knowing his parents, and I blew up! That's what she needed it seems, one giant blast of Harry Potter style uncontrolled magic and she ripped straight off the wall. I'm thinking of giving her to Kreacher as a birthday present, what do you think?" he asked with a laugh. Hermione laughed as well and hugged him tightly.

"It's fantastic, I can't believe she's finally gone! The combined strength of the Order, and even Dumbledore couldn't get that thing down. Just one burst of uncontrolled magic… So, if it took one burst of magic, why does it look like you wrestled the thing off the wall yourself?" She asked, again taking in his sweaty, shirtless body, all that Quidditch and dueling with death eaters sure does build up ones physique.

"Oh yeah, I forgot sorry." He said, grabbing his shirt and pulling it on, Hermione found herself rather disappointed. "I have been working off my excess energy trying to make this house somewhat livable. Come and see." He said, grabbing her hand and leading her up the staircase to the first floor. She tried not to notice his hot hand in hers, or the sudden tingles that she felt going up her arm. This was new.

"What do you think?" he asked as he opened the door to the dingy study. Well it certainly wasn't dingy anymore, that was for sure. It looked like he had ripped up the prehistoric carpet, and ripped down the dust and doxi infested curtains. The shelves and desks were gone and the space looked completely clear and new.

"It looks amazing Harry!" She said, stepping into the room and looking around herself. "You did all this manually though? You do remember you are a wizard, right?" Harry grinned;

"Yes Mione, I do realize that I am a wizard, but as I said, I wanted to burn off excess energy. I'm not sure what I want to turn it into yet, but it certainly was fun destroying it all first." He laughed. "You may even be able to call it a sort of therapy."

"Well it's good that you've found something occupying to do while you are stuck here, I'm happy for you Harry." She replied, it was true, she was happy for him, and he certainly looked happy as he surveyed the shelled out room.

"Hey Mione, do you want a drink? I'm thirsty after all that exercise" he said, grabbing her hand again (is this a new development or is she only just noticing it now?) took her back down the stairs and into the kitchen. She then realized when he stopped in his tracks, that she had brought the Firewhisky and left it on the table. "Okay Hermione, What's wrong?" He asked, spinning her around to look at him. She only ever drank when she was particularly upset about something, and she only drank with him because she trusted him to keep her safe if she went a bit over her limit.

"Why would anything be wrong Harry?" Hermione asked innocently as she sat heavily on a chair and pulled the glass and Firewhisky towards her.

"Because I know you Mione, and you don't drink unless something is the matter. Is it work? Is it Ron?" He asked. He knew the answer, he always knew the answer. And so did she, he just needed to wait for her to say it. He watched her for a while as she struggled with the cork in the whisky bottle but rescued it from her grip before the resorted to using her teeth. He quickly twisted the cork out and pored them both a small shot each, waiting for her explanation.

"He postponed… AGAIN! It's been a month and he still hasn't even sat down with me to look at places yet. I don't get it, when I suggested moving out with him last month he was all for it. Now, it one excuse after another. I hate staying at my parents place Harry, it's so empty and I can't stay in Australia like my parents want me to because I have a life here. I don't want to move out by myself and I'd feel like I was imposing if I stayed at the Burrow with Ron. What do I do Harry?" She asked her friend desperately as she quickly shot the Firewhisky, letting it burn down her throat before filling her glass again and looking across at Harry.

Harry was frowning, and Hermione knew that he was thinking hard about her situation and would try to help. That was what she loved about their relationship. It was never just talking for the sake of talking or for just a sympathetic ear. They genuinely tried to help each other out every time. Harry's expression suddenly cleared and a brilliant smile replaced it. Hermione caught her breath at the sight. My god he was hansom.

"Hey Hermione, I think I know what I want to do with my new room" He stated enthusiastically. Hermione frowned.

"But how does that help me?" She asked. Harry looked at her beseechingly, for the most brilliant witch of her age, sometimes she could be a bit slow on the uptake. It finally dawned on her. "M-m-move in with you?" She asked, not really believing that was what he meant. But he laughed;

"Why not? We've shared a tiny tent for months before Hermione, and this house is enormous. That way, we'll both have some company. I'm not sure if you've noticed this Mione, but this place is a lot bigger than your parents place. I sometimes feel like the last bean in a packet of Bertie Bots." He looked at her more seriously now "Well, what do you think?"

"Are you certain you don't mind? I mean, I don't want to get in the way." She replied, sold on the idea but still uncertain that he really meant it.

"Mione! I have no style for you to cramp, I'm one person in a huge house. And as I see it, we are doing each other a favor." He looked at her seriously again. "What do you say?"

"Yes! Thank you so much Harry!" She replied and jumped, hugging him tightly around the middle, he held her tightly too and they stood there for a few moments, his nose pressed into her hair and her eyes closed in pleasure. Before it got a bit too long to be comfortable they broke apart, and Harry cleared his throat.

"So Miss Granger, what colour would you like your new room to be?" Harry asked, linking her arm in his and walking her out of the kitchen, the Firewhisky, like her problems, momentarily forgotten.

Hermione looked around her new room in wonder, the floorboards under her feet had been waxed to a brilliant shine and the walls were a light happy blue, covering two of the walls were deep mahogany bookshelves and against the third a beautiful mahogany four poster bed with deeper blue coverings to match the walls. She had never seen a room like it and it was all hers.

"Well, what do you think? Did I do okay?" Harry asked. Hermione turned to see him with his back to the open doorway, surveying her survey her new room.

"Oh Harry, it's amazing, it's wonderful, it's… me!" She sighed, coming up to him and hugging him, which she found herself doing a lot lately. "Have you ever thought of going into interior design?" she asked playfully, he reached down and started tickling her sides in payback.

"I'm an all powerful wizard Hermione" He said over her helpless giggles "Powerful wizards like me don't become interior designers, do they?" He was relentless, evading her twitching hands as she tried ineffectually to swat his hands away.

"Stop Harry, please! I'm sorry, stop!" She laughed helplessly, still trying to bat his hands away.

"Say I'm the most amazing wizard you've ever met and I'll stop." He said, grinning as he tickled.

"I'm the most amazing wizard you've ever met!" she screamed, he paid her back by tickling harder. "Okay, okay you are the most amazing wizard I've ever met! There, please stop!" She cried and he instantly stopped tickling her. She sagged suddenly in relief and both fell to the floor in a pile, still trying to control their laughter. Slowly their laughter subsided, but they stayed comfortably on the floor. Hermione mostly on top of Harry, though he didn't seem to be complaining at all. After a short silence Harry asked;

"You do like the room, don't you Mione?" He sounded uncertain as he surveyed the room from the floor.

"I love it Harry" Hermione replied, turning Harry's head so that they were face to face.

"Really?" He asked, his face inching unconsciously closer to hers. Hermione could see it happening but didn't want to stop it. Didn't want to think past Harry's warmth, Harry's laughter, Harry's lips.

"Really, really." She replied then slowly closed the gap, melding her lips to his. They both sighed and deepened it, Harry's hands coming up, one to cup the back of her head to pull her closer the other to tangle into her unruly hair. Hermione's senses were on fire, she'd never felt like this before, it was like a fuse had been lit inside her at Harry's touch and she couldn't get enough, he deepened the kiss and she responded by licking at his lips. He quickly got the idea and opened his mouth, sucking her tongue inside to wrestle with his own. There was no pulling back, no hesitation, just a need to be infinitely closer.

"Mmm Mione" Harry whispered when they pull apart momentarily to breathe, then he flipped her onto her back, his weight now resting above her on his hands. She looked into his brilliant green eyes and she sees what she thinks she's always wanted to see. Love, lust and passion burning behind his eyes, she pulls him down onto her again and before he can protest that he'll crush her thrusts her lips back into his, moaning at the sensation of his hard body on top of her.

She gets frustrated momentarily when they need to pull apart to breathe again, but Harry cures it by quickly placing butterfly kisses down her neck, making her whimper and arch up, seeking his touch. He complies when she least expects it, his hands suddenly moving to the bottom of her shirt, playing with the exposed skin of her midriff. For the first time there is a question in his eyes as he looks at her. Is she sure? Is she ready to go further?

"Yes, please Harry" she pants, her hands coming up to play with the hair on the back of his neck, running her hands through the unruly mass. Harry needed no further invitation, her consent given Harry started kissing his way down her body, and she could feel his hot mouth through the material of her shirt but needed it against her skin. Slowly he started working his way back up, the shirt rising with his movements, stopping to lightly tickle her sides again, making her squirm before kissing in and around her belly button. Hermione found herself holding her breath as he made his way towards her breasts, already straining in their meager coverings, thanking Merlin for front clasps when Harry quickly brushed the offending article aside and kissed her left nipple, just a small brushing of his lips to tease her. Hermione arched her back, seeking his mouth and he rewarded her with a lick then sucked the nipple straight into his mouth. His hand coming up to fondle the other one so it didn't feel neglected.

"Harry!" Hermione moaned as he swapped, kissing his way down one peak and across to the other, his hand coming up to fondle her other breast. Hermione became aware that Harry still seemed to be fully clothed and felt the need to remedy that situation.

"Mm, Harry? You seem to be wearing a lot more clothes than I am." Hermione said in a whisper. Harry heard her though, raising his head from the breast he was devouring to smirk up at her.

"It seems I am, I guess we'd better fix that now, shouldn't we?" he said, rising to his knees he quickly drew his shirt up over his head, but before he could lean down to continue his slow torture Hermione tackled him to the ground, her mouth finding his instantly and her hands molding to his chest. He moaned into her mouth when her hands found and flicked at his nipples in retaliation before she settled herself down on him, his obvious erection coming to rest on her jean clad center. Both gasped at the sensation, neither realizing until now that it could be like this.

"Harry, please. I need you now." She said, rubbing herself against him slowly, loving the way his eyes filled with fire as he looked at her, straddling him wantonly and pleading with him to take her. How could a man resist. Quickly flipping them over again he kissed his way down to the top of her jeans, slowly undoing the button and sliding down the zip. Hermione moaned his name again, wishing he would move faster but loving the drawn out pleasure of it just the same. Harry followed the progress of her jeans down her long, smooth legs before kissing his way back up, starting at her ankle and stopping at her center. She was burning with desire and dripping wet, she needed him inside her now. Instead he leaned down and slowly inserted one finger between her lips and into her heat, drawing a gasp and a moan from her in quick succession as he followed it up with his mouth. Sucking hard and fast on her clit he inserted one finger then two into her heat, Hermione's back arched off the floor her pulse beating rapidly as she tried not to come so soon, but he was too good and she was too sensitive and it only took a few more licks, sucks and bites from his expert mouth to have her careening over the edge into bliss.

Hermione was numb, he had drained all the life out of her, she thought. But oh, how she'd let him do it again, and again. She felt Harry's weight disappear from on top of her and she whimpered in protest. She heard him chuckle in return.

"Don't worry Mione" he said as he picked her up in his arms, her legs automatically wrapping themselves around him, the feel of his prominent erection against her inner thigh bringing some of the life back into her limbs. "I'm just moving us somewhere a bit more comfortable than the floor. And what better way to test a new bed?" He joked, laying her carefully down onto the bed before quickly removing his shorts and boxers before holding himself above her again. He started kissing his way down her body again but Hermione was having none of that, she pulled his head up to hers capturing his lips and plundering his mouth, their tongues battling for dominance over the other before Hermione flipped him over onto his back, taking up position straddling his hips again.

There were no protective layers this time though and when she rubbed herself down on him his guttural moan of her name sent shivers up and down her spine. She wanted to make him do that again. Slowly moving down his body she took the same meandering path that he had taken before, stopping to play with his nipples and belly button before finally laying her eyes on his erection. She moaned involuntarily at the thought of that inside her, long and thick and weeping for her. Slowly she took him into her mouth, sucking the head to remove any of the pre-cum that had already escaped. Harry made that guttural noise again, almost growling her name as he clutched the blankets beneath him. Hermione loved it, she wanted to do this again and again, making him cry her name in his release.

But Harry had other ideas, In a move she didn't see coming he reached down, grabbing her by the sides and lifting her up, then without preamble setting her straight down on his pulsating erection. They both groaned simultaneously, Harry pulling her down so he could lock his lips to hers once again.

"I never thought it could be this good" Harry grunted into her mouth as he thrust up uncontrollably into her body, Hermione met him thrust for thrust, holding tightly to his shoulders for balance and digging her short nails into his skin.

"Me neither" Hermione replied. She could feel herself getting close and knew Harry could feel it too, her inner walls clenching down on him tightly and drawing him back in. It was heaven, and she never wanted it to end, Harry reached between them and with one careful pinch of her clit he sent them both flying over the edge and into euphoria calling each other's names.

Hermione woke to someone kissing the back of her neck, following up every five kisses with a little nip to the nape of her neck. She sighed, moving closer onto the embrace and the feeling it was all creating.

"Mm, morning Mione" Harry said, groaning as e pushed his morning erection into her back, continuing to kiss the back of her neck languidly.

"Haha, good morning to you too, I'm glad you see you are awake." She replied, arching her back into his erection further and making Harry bury his head into her shoulder and groan.

"I'm glad you are awake too, so I can finally do this." He replied, grabbing her shoulder and turning her onto her back he took possession of her mouth. She could barely keep up, but she didn't mind, her thoughts still groggy and half asleep, she found herself quickly coming awake though when Harry's fingers found their way into her folds, making her eyes open wide and her body to arch off the bed. Harry couldn't wait though, she could tell that he needed her desperately and she was only too happy to oblige.

Taking his hand from within her she rolled him onto his back and slowly made her way down to his straining erection. Images of last night and the beautiful sounds he made drifted into her head and her mouth twisted into a grin. Harry's question about why she was smiling died on his lips as she quickly engulfed him whole, his tip resting at the back of her throat. And then all Harry could do was make Hermione's favourite sound as she sucked him like a lollypop, dragging her teeth lightly along his length before humming around his tip, making him shake. It didn't take long after she started massaging his balls to the rhythm of her mouth that he gave a cry and came into her mouth. She drank him down then sucked him dry while he continued to shudder above her.

"My god woman, that was amazing!" Harry said sometime later as she lay wrapped around him "I really won't complain if that's how you want to wake me up for the rest of our lives." He said on a chuckle, pulling her even closer into his body.

"For the rest of our lives, huh?" She replied sleepily, turning her head to look him in the eye. He gazed down on her for a moment before turning her onto her back and slowly kissing and sucking his way down her body.

"Yes, for the rest of our lives Hermione. I love you, I realized that when I was creating your room. I created it for us, hoping one day you'd let me share it with you." He chuckled "It happened a little quicker than I thought it would, but I'm hardly one to complain." He ducked when she tried to slap him playfully. "All I'm saying is, I'm not Ron. I want to look after you, laugh with you, protect you and stand by your side. But most of all I want to make love to you. Over and over again until we can barely move and can barely talk as we've screamed each other's names all night." With this he started kissing downward again, getting closer and closer to her aching sweet spot. "I know you may not feel the same just yet-"

"I do." Hermione said, covering his mouth to stop anymore of that sentence from coming out of his mouth. "I love you so much I ache for you. I hid it in School for so long that I forgot, but then I saw your smile at what you had achieved with your own sweat and muscle, I hadn't seen you smile like that in years, and it all came flooding back. Forget Ron, forget Ginny, forget the world. We have each other, and we have this bed." She moved her hand and kissed his lips. "And now we have your promise to make me scream till I'm hoarse and unable to move. I suggest you get to it." She ended with a mischievous smile lying back as she felt his lips continue to trail down her body to where she ached for it most. Yes, 'the rest of our lives' didn't sound nearly long enough.

A/N - TADA! Done, tell me what you think?


End file.
